Negative Pressure
by nitrogentulips
Summary: Barry has necrotizing fasciitis, an extremely rare condition known as "flesh eating disease". Caitlin and Cisco try to be gentle.


Something's wrong. It hurts so bad he can't walk and something is very much, definitely wrong.

Barry calls Iris. She picks up after one ring. "You know, I'm one flight of stairs away. You could just walk down here." she sounds almost upset, but there's a smile in her voice.

"I—Iris," his voice splinters. He swallows and winces. "Something's wrong. Can you take me to the hospital?"

"Are you serious? What's going on?" he hears her run up the stairs. She opens doors on her way down the hall until she sees him. Crumpled on the floor, leg straight out in front of him, swollen and blistered underneath his jeans.

"What happened? Is something broken? Can you walk?"

He looks down, maybe in shame or something equally bitter. "I need to go to the hospital."

She presses her mouth into a firm line, but helps him to the car, Barry gasping and gritting his teeth the whole way. In the emergency room, he has to get through the paperwork as fast as he can so he doesn't pass out.

When he's finally sent through triage, the nurse examining him starts to push up the leg of his pants, and Barry doubles over and yanks her hand away.

But he knows they need to see it.

Slowly, carefully, he eases the fabric away, exposing just the very edge. The nurse looks like she's about to pass out. She calls for a doctor, and a woman bustles over at the nurse's tone.

"Barry Allen?"

Barry nods.

"I'm Dr. Snow. Can you tell me what happened?"

A patient is wheeled by, covered in bandages and blood. Barry has to look away. "I don't know. My leg started hurting, it's got all blistered and gross, and now I think something's really wrong. I can't walk."

Caitlin has to hide the alarm. Blisters? "Can you tell me when the pain started?"

Barry shifts, bites back the pain to respond. "Yesterday. Morning, I think."

It's her turn to nod. "Can I have you roll up your pants so I can see what's going on?"

He almost grabs the cuff again, to keep her from moving it. "Can't put pressure on it. Not even that."

She frowns. "That must be painful. Can you take them off?"

He cringes. "I don't think—I don't think I can move like that."

Dr. Snow moves to the foot of his bed, nodding again. "Lie down, please. Unbutton and unzip, I'll just slide them off."

He does as she says, and when she pulls them off, the light friction against the wound makes his legs twitch, toes curling.

She gets them off, draping them over the edge of the bed, and Barry hears her murmur a quiet, "Oh." when she sees his leg.

Barry wasn't kidding about the blisters. Or the infection completely and utterly destroying his leg. She resists the urge to do a tactile examination of the leg, having noticed the discomfort in the removal of his pants even when she tried her best to keep the fabric from touching it.

"Barry, I'm going to order a skin biopsy, but I have some questions,"

He seems to nod.

"Have you ever been diagnosed with a bleeding disorder?"

"No,"

"Had excessive bleeding after other medical procedures?"

"No,"

All negative. No bleeding disorders, no excessive bleeding, no thinning medications, no history of skin infection, no immunosuppressants. He's good to go. The ER isn't too busy, so she decides to do it herself.

Caitlin covers Barry's legs and lower abdomen with a blanket for privacy, leaving his injured leg uncovered, and prepares an IV. As she brings the tray over, Barry opens his eyes from closing them against the pain.

"What is that?" Caitlin is relieved not to see the wariness, or sometimes outright terror, that usually comes with the question.

"It's an IV. I'll put a small - "

"No, no, I - sorry, what's in it? What are you giving me?" Barry is familiar with the apprehension and feeling of wrongness that comes with blatantly lying about his "medical condition".

"Oh." Barry notes the tension that eases from her shoulders. "It's some saline to keep you hydrated, and some nausea and pain relievers."

Barry's heart starts its slow crawl into his throat. It has to just be for the constant, burning pain from the infection, right? He doesn't know what a skin biopsy is like, but with the condition of his leg, it can't be good. "I have a medical condition. I metabolize pain medication too fast, it doesn't work on me."

Caitlin doesn't miss the prickles of fear in his eyes. "I've looked over your history, and I'm confident both the morphine and the local anesthetic will work just fine."

Barry's stomach rolls. Local anesthetic means they expect there to be pain. Pain he'll be able to feel. He's not ready.

When Dr. Snow glances to his eyes again, all he can do is nod.

"Let the morphine work, relax. I'll be back in a few minutes,"

Then she's gone. Barry closes his eyes and tries to focus on the cool flow of the IV, thinking that might help the morphine work at least mentally. But he's interrupted when a man pulls back the curtain around his bed.

"Barry?"

Barry forces his eyes open and tries to breathe through a sudden wave of pain. "Yep."

The man smiles. "I'm Cisco. Kinda sucks you're in the hospital, but nice to meet you anyway. I'm a nurse." he playfully flashes a badge clipped to his scrubs.

Barry's having a hard time concentrating on Cisco. If anything, the IV is making the pain worse. He manages to focus long enough for Cisco to conduct a brief medical history, and for Caitlin to come back.

"Ready, Barry?"


End file.
